As part of our ongoing series of interviews with our partner community, we spoke with Jean d’Ornano, Head of Partnerships and Alliances at VMware France. Jean talked to us about the opportunities that partners have in 2017 to adapt to the changing cloud environment, and why specialisation and services are key to helping customers on their digital transformation journey.

We’ve entered a new era of cloud where the most evolved partners are those that recognise the value of specialising in a particular set of products or services. Becoming an informed expert is a key selling point in a marketplace that’s crying out for more in-depth ‘know how’ on the challenges of a multi-cloud world. The key for partners in 2017 will be to answer this call by adapting their skills.

Cloud isn’t a straightforward landscape to operate in – in fact it can be positively volatile. Industry experts IDC recognise this, predicting that by 2020, 30 per cent of vendors operating today won’t exist in their current form. Partners need to place the right bets now to stay ahead of this evolution and VMware can offer partners a number of things to help on this journey.

First is a strong strategy for the future of VMware’s Cross-Cloud architecture. VMware’s platform, extends the company’s hybrid cloud strategies by enabling businesses to run, manage, connect, and secure applications across multiple clouds and devices in a common operating environment. This helps customers achieve hybrid cloud solutions because we understand compatibility, whether a customer is using the full SDDC stack, one part of this or piecing together a customer solution using a variety of vendors or products.

The second priority is providing a competitive partner offering. When a partner wants to take advantage of an opportunity with VMware, it receives good margins and robust knowledge and certification to sell them. When selecting a partner, customers want to be reassured they have an awareness of the market and current trends, as well as an appreciation for helping them create something new out of existing infrastructure. Customers don’t often wish to tear everything down – they want to build on what exists already. With VMware, our partners can help customers achieve this in a number of ways. They can either become a multi-skilled player, helping customers to achieve the full SDDC vision, or specialise in one element of this vision, such as networking virtualization platform NSX or software-defined storage through vSAN.

The third priority is pivoting the business model from a pure transactional activity to a better-balanced service model. This perspective is enabling partners to propose a full solution, including implementation and/or operations to their customers. This ability to handle the full lifecycle of projects is required by the market and provides a way to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. The shift in business model will depend on the history and DNA of the partner, but ultimately the investment in people and skills will have a positive impact on both revenues and margins.

Above all VMware’s technology offers partners a chance to be part of the evolving cloud landscape. Companies need to protect investment in skills and ensure they back suppliers with a long term vision. VMware has a strong proposition with its full SDDC stack offering, helping customers become truly digital businesses. The world is changing fast and if partners do nothing, there are two options – be acquired or fade away. Partners who work with VMware will have a roadmap to help them adapt in this volatile environment.